Uncle Fedya, His Dog, and His Cat (Russian: Дядя Фёдор, пёс и кот, romanized: Dyadya Fyodor, pyos i kot, lit.

'"Uncle Fyodor, The Dog and The Cat"') is a children's novella written by Eduard Uspensky and first published in 1974.

[1] It is the first story in the series set in the fictional village of Milkville[2] (Russian: Простоквашино, romanized: Prostokvashino, IPA: [prəstɐˈkvaʂɨnə]; lit.

The series features a city boy named Fyodor, or Fedya for short, and his friends, the talking animals.

The stories focus on their adventures in Prostokvashino and their relationships with its residents, including the irritable postman Pechkin.

[4] Fyodor lives in the apartment with his parents, who call him "Uncle" (a Russian designation for adult males) because of his seriousness, independence, and intelligence.

Fyodor chooses Murzilka, Sharik opts for "something about hunting" and Matroskin politely refuses, saying that he would rather save money.

Sharik wants a gun for hunting and a dog collar with medallions; Matroskin needs a cow (he decides to rent one from the local rental service agency); Fyodor wants to buy a bike, but his friends convince him to get a tractor instead, because it is much more practical.

In return, Fyodor receives an experimental 20-hp tractor model "Mitya", which runs on food rather than gasoline.

His tractor stops next to every house whenever it smells food, so Matroskin has to force it to move on a straight line by holding a sausage on a fishing-rod in front of it.

The villagers bring him stray and sick animals, including a small gloomy jackdaw named Jack Grabbit, that they adopt.

He starts by writing that his life in Prostokvashino is great, but then abandons his task to play with some children, leaving Matroskin and Sharik to continue the letter.

Sharik spends all his time in the forest enjoying photography, Matroskin trains Gavryusha in obedience, teaches him to play fetch with sticks and guard the house like a watch dog.

Fyodor's mother is impressed with Matroskin's skills and intelligence and invites him and Sharik back to their apartment, but the pair is unwilling to part with Murka and Gavryusha.

Uncle Fedya, His Dog, and His Cat was adapted into the animated film trilogy with the same name by Studio Ekran.

[8] The series was directed by Yury Klepatsky and Lidia Surikova with the music composed by Anatoly Bykanov.

[9] The films were narrated by A. Mikhailov with characters voiced by Victor Baikov, Svetlana Kharlap, A. Gorunova, A. Verbitsky, Z. Andreyeva, Y.

These films are largely forgotten nowadays, put in the shade by the much more popular series created at the Soyuzmultfilm studio.

He has many interests and skills, including accounting, embroidery, cooking, baking, sewing, singing, playing the guitar, and reading.

Matroskin the Cat is voiced by Svetlana Kharlap in Ekran's films and by Oleg Tabakov in Soyuzmultfilm's series.

To Matroskin the Cat's utter disappointed, Sharik does not have many useful skills: he admits that he can only wash the dishes by "licking" them.

However he follows the letter of the law, i.e. he has a passport, as opposed to Matroskin who claims that his paws and tail are his identity documents.

He snatches everything that catches his eye, hides it in the cupboard, and then fiercely protects his "treasures", which is very inconvenient for Fyodor and his friends.

This conversation continues for a long time, leading to Pechkin's nervous breakdown, and afterwards Uncle Fyodor has to treat him with tea and candies.